Reich Won't Be Confirmed By Senate, Committee Chairman Says
Jim Burns
Senior Staff Writer
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said, "We really have to have a big-leaguer in our assistant secretaryship position that can really in a comprehensive way" work on not just the Venezuela issue but the overall Latin America issue.
Lugar said Secretary of State Colin Powell agrees with his viewpoint.
Lugar said he strongly advised the White House to make a "good nomination" for the post, "because we really need help there. The president needs help, Secretary Powell needs help, so that we do not get into these situations where we are just sliding along without a proper United States representation."
On the same program, the outgoing committee chairman - Sen. Joe (D-Del.) agreed with Lugar. "We need someone of significant stature. Otto Reich, in my humble opinion, does that fit that bill and could not be confirmed."
Lugar said he doesn't think Reich has the votes in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Lugar said he thinks President Bush and Secretary of State Powell know that.
Reports indicate that many farm-state Republican Senators who want the economic embargo against Cuba lifted do not like Reich's hard-line policies toward the Castro government.
Many of those Senators want U.S. farmers to be allowed to sell more agricultural and food products to Cuba.
The White House still has not said if it will re-nominate Otto Reich as assistant secretary of state for western hemispheric affairs. Reich, a man who has generated both strong support and strong opposition, was forced to step down last month because of a time limit on his recess appointment.
When asked if Reich will be re-nominated by President Bush when the new Congress convenes next month, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "I just don't speculate about potential appointments on any position, unless there is an announcement to be made."
But Fleischer said Bush thinks Reich did a good job during his brief time as assistant secretary of state. "The president thinks that Otto Reich is serving his country ably and well. He is a fine public servant who has helped bring democracy and freedom to Latin America and Central America, and is very proud of him," Fleischer said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell recently named Reich as a special envoy for the State Department's Latin American Bureau. Deputy Secretary of State Curt Struple was named as Reich's temporary replacement.
Members of the Cuban exile community are calling on Bush to re-nominate Reich.
In a recent opinion piece in the Miami Herald, Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, a leading anti-Castro exile group, expressed his support.
"If Reich is not re-nominated," said Calzon, "expect (Cuban dictator Fidel) Castro to be celebrating in Havana, and the anti-embargo lobby, which wants U.S. taxpayers to subsidize trade with Castro, to be re-energized."
Calzon said there is more at stake in re-nominating Reich than "ethnic politics" and the "Cuban vote" because there is no substitute for American leadership in "today's dangerous world."
"Bush needs people such as Reich who can take the heat and defend his policies," said Calzon. "Reich has demonstrated that he can do both." If Bush won't stand behind Reich now and re-nominate him, a lot of loyal Cuban Americans will want from the White House a better explanation than, 'He might not be confirmed.'"
President Bush gave Reich a recess appointment last January, meaning the appointment was made when Congress was not in session last January. At the time, there was heated opposition to Reich from Senate Democrats and his formal confirmation was in doubt.
Reich, a Cuban-American and a strident anti-Communist, has irritated Democrats, including former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), because of his support for the Cuban economic embargo and the Nicaraguan Contra rebels in the 1980s, who fought against the Sandinista government which was later deposed.
Recently, two members of Congress, Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, both Florida Republicans and Cuban exiles, called on the Bush administration to re-nominate Reich as well.
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